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General information

Telephone

Information Line

0161 275 2648

Education Booking Line

0161 275 2630

Fax

General Office Fax

0161 275 2676

All information is drawn from or provided by the venues themselves and every effort is made to ensure it is correct. Please remember to double check opening hours with the venue concerned before making a special visit.

Encounter Manchester Museum’s assortment of treasures from the natural world and the many cultures it is home to. Visitor favourites include dinosaurs, mummies and live amphibians and reptiles.

Venue Type:

Museum

Opening hours

Daily: 10am-5pm24-26 Dec, 1 Jan: closed

Admission charges

Free entry

Manchester Museum’s collection is made up of 4.5 million items from the natural world and human cultures.

The natural environments collections include Zoology (animals and birds), Vivarium (live amphibians and reptiles), Botany (plants), Entomology (insects), Palaeontology (pre-historic life including fossils and dinosaurs), Geology (the Earth’s materials such as rocks) and Mineralogy (minerals). The human cultures collections include Archaeology (Mediterranean, European and Western Asiatic), Egyptology, Anthropology (people and cultures), Numismatics (money) and Archery.

Made up of a series of impressive Gothic style buildings at the heart of The University of Manchester, the Museum was designed by Alfred Waterhouse in 1885.

The museum’s entire collection is a Designated Collection of national importance.

You can search the Museum's collection via their website - http://emu.man.ac.uk/mmcustom/narratives/ or research objects in the Museum's Collections Study Centre - http://www.museum.manchester.ac.uk/aboutus/services/collectionsstudycentre/

Key artists and exhibits

Exhibition details are listed below, you may need to scroll down to see them all.

Exhibition (temporary)

Romuald Hazoumè: Dance of the Butterflies

14 February — 31 December 2015 *on now

Dance of the Butterflies is a stunning new art work by one of Africa’s foremost contemporary artists Romuald Hazoumè. It features swarms of multicoloured ‘butterflies’ which will take over the Museum’s Living Worlds gallery, interacting with the Museum’s own collections. Hazoumè, whose work was featured in We Face Forward, the Manchester-wide celebration of West African art and culture in 2012, will return to create this work for Manchester Museum. The hundreds of butterflies are made from off-cuts of vibrant African wax-print fabrics from the artist’s home country of Benin. Dance of the Butterflies represents a very African take on politics, exploitation and the ‘butterfly effect’- the way in which tiny impulses within chaotic systems can lead to unexpectedly serious effects. The display opens to coincide with the reopening of the Whitworth, following a £15million redevelopment.

Events details are listed below. You may need to scroll down or click on headers to see them all. For events that don't have a specific date see the 'Resources' tab above.

Storytelling session

Baby Explorers

31 March 2015 10:30am-1:45pm*on now

10.30-11.15am, 11.30am-12.15pm & 1-1.45pm.Book on 0161 275 2648 (Bookings will be taken a week in advance from 2pm), free Sensory play and interactive story sessions for babies who aren't walking yet. Every other Tuesday (except half term school holidays when there are drop-in sensory play sessions 11am-2.30pm).

Collection Bites: Women and Weaving in the South Pacific Islands

Led by Alice Searle, aid worker and teacher, this hands on session will look at fans, baskets and mats from the islands of Fiji, Rotuma, Tonga and Tuvalu islands of the South Pacific.

There will be an opportunity for participants to handle objects and discuss the materials, processes and the cultural significance behind each piece.

Event

Making Monuments on Rapa Nui: Statues from Easter Island

1 April — 6 September 2015

Making Monuments on Rapa Nui The Statues from Easter Island1 April-6 September 2015Manchester MuseumFree entry

The monumental stone statues of Rapa Nui (named Easter Island by European explorers) in the Pacific are some of the most widely recognised archaeological objects in the world. Based on fieldwork on the island by Professor Colin Richards, an archaeologist at The University of Manchester, the exhibition will take a fresh look at these impressive statues, or ‘moai’. Making Monuments will look at how the statues were made, the role they played in the lives of the islanders, how they were quarried and transported across the island, and what they mean. It will also deconstruct some of the myths about the island, and discuss current theories about the decline of this astonishing culture. As part of the exhibition, Manchester Museum will show one of the statues, Moai Hava, which was collected from Rapa Nui in 1868, and is on loan from the British Museum.

Suitable for

Website

Easter Holiday Activities: Nature Discovery

Explore, discover and make stories at Manchester Museum this Easter. Don’t miss a visit to our newly renovated Nature Discovery gallery for under 5s and their families.

Create sock puppet animals in our Discovery Centre and take them with you as you explore the museum galleries and see what, and how many other animals you can find. Drop in, free, all ages

Workshop, club or activity

English Corner

7 April 2015 1-2pm

5 May 2015 1-2:30pm

Drop-in, free, adults

Free English conversation classes using the Museum’s collection as inspiration for discussion.

Workshop, club or activity

Early Opening: See, Make & Do at the Museum

11 April 2015 9:15-10:30am

Autism Friendly: for families with children with autism and their siblings aged 5-16 with a parent or carer.

Join us for a series of early openings at the Museum aimed at children who have autism and other needs, along with their families and carers.

Suitable for

Family friendly

Workshop, club or activity

Baby Explorers

14 April 2015

28 April 2015

12 May 2015

26 May 2015

10.30-11.15am, 11.30am-12.15pm & 1-1.45pm.Book on 0161 275 2648 (Bookings will be taken a week in advance from 2pm), free Sensory play and interactive story sessions for babies who aren't walking yet. Every other Tuesday (except half term school holidays when there are drop-in sensory play sessions 11am-2.30pm).

Workshop, club or activity

Rock Drop: Geology Identification Sessions

23 April 2015 2-3pm

21 May 2015 2-3pm

Drop-in, freeOur Curator of Earth Sciences, David Gelsthorpe, will be available once a month to answer your questions and identify your rocks and fossils.

Workshop, club or activity

Magic Carpet

24 April 2015 10:30am-1:45pm

29 May 2015

Fri 24 Apr, 10.30-11.30am & 11.30am-12.30pmBook on 0161 275 2648 (from a week before from 2pm), free, under 5s and their families/carersStory making and activity sessions. For toddlers up to 5yrs and their families/carers (Young babies welcome with older siblings).

Workshop, club or activity

Big Saturday: Nature & Us

25 April 2015 11am-4pm

Drop in, free, all agesDiscover more about nature around us, and how it affects our everyday lives. Explore and delve into our Nature Discovery gallery on Floor 1. Meet Museum curators and find out more about the Museum’s collections. Join students from The University of Manchester and find out about their research, as they uncover the stories behind objects in the Museum’s animal, fossil and plant collections. Enjoy hands-on activities for all the family and lots more….

Workshop, club or activity

Early Opening for Early Birds

25 April 2015 9-10am

23 May 2015

Drop-in, free, families with children under 5 and their older siblingsAre you and your young children up with the Larks and excited to get out and about and exploring? Come along to Manchester Museum's Living Worlds and Nature Discovery galleries for our early opening for early birds. Enjoy self-led tours, object handling and craft activities. (Just the Living Worlds and Nature Discovery galleries will be open at 9am - you can explore the rest of the Museum from 10am).

Performance

Brighter Sound

14 May 2015 6-9pm

Brighter Sound brings together musicians Jason Singh and Giuliano Modarelli in an event inspired by India’s Warli artists and the animation of the Museum’s collections.

A Fine Line has worked in partnership with Brighter Sound to explore the potential of artists' interdisciplinary collaborations with Traditional Indian arts practise.

Jason Singh – a composer and sound artist and Giuliano Modarelli a virtuosic guitarist, spent an exhilarating three weeks working in the context of Warli painters who are themselves exploring and experimenting beyond the boarders of tradition.

Against a backdrop of Warli canvasses and images, Jason and Giuliano will perform an sonic account of their journey.

Part of Museums at Night. One Night. City Wide. Free Events.www.creativetourist.com/manchester-after-hours

Suitable for

Website

Big Saturday: Statues from Easter Island

23 May 2015 11am-4pm

Come along to Manchester Museum and find out more about the monumental stone statues (or ‘moai’) of Rapa Nui (named Easter Island by European explorers). Discover the role the statues played in the lives of the islanders, how they were quarried and transported across the island, and what they mean. Learn some archaeology skills, meet experts, enjoy hands-on craft activities, and explore our Making Monuments on Rapa Nui exhibition. All this and more…

Suitable for

Website

Building the great monuments of Rapa Nui (Easter Island)

24 May 2015 2-3pm

Based on fieldwork on the island by Professor Colin Richards, an archaeologist at The University of Manchester, this talk will explore the social significance of the range of volcanic materials that are used in the construction of the ceremonial platforms (ahu), including the statues (moai) and topknots (pukao). The recent excavations and discoveries of the Rapa Nui: Landscapes of construction Project will also be presented as will an alternative interpretation of the prehistoric Rapa Nui social world.

Suitable for

Not suitable for children

Workshop, club or activity

Half term: Rapu Nui statues

25 — 29 May 2015

Visit the Museum’s Making Monuments on Rapa Nui exhibition, and find out more about the monumental stone statues (or ‘moai’) of Rapa Nui (named Easter Island by European explorers). Discover the role they played in the lives of the islanders, how they were quarried and transported across the island, and what they mean.

Create statues of your own inspired by objects in the exhibition, including Moai Hava, a statue collected from Rapa Nui in 1868, on loan from the British Museum.

Big Saturdays

Once a month The Manchester Museum bursts into life for a Big Saturday with art and craft activities, object handling, performance, talks and tours. They run from 11.00-16.00. Big Saturdays also include activities for adults and interested older children.

How to obtain

Most Big Saturday activities are free and drop-in. Some activities may need to be booked on the day and may cost up to £1.50